Justin Timberlake’s ‘The 20/20 Experience’ Was 2013’s Best Selling Album

The receipts are in, and Justin Timberlake’s award-winning comeback vehicle The 20/20 Experience emerged as the best selling album of 2013. A victory, for sure, but one that signifies the rapidly decline of music sales in general.

20/20 sold 2.43 million copies last year, a sum that pales when compared to the 5.82 million Adele’s 21sold in 2011 and 4.41 million the same LP moved in 2012 — it being the top seller in both of those years. Billboard notes that 2.43 million is the lowest amount for a year-end best seller since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.

The 20/20 Experience was the only album to cross the 2 million mark in 2013, and overall album sales in the States fell by 8% last year. The good news? While CD sales were down 14% and digital album sales were down (for the first time ever) by 1%, vinyl album sales were up for the sixth year in a row, this time by a whopping 33% (total sales: 6.1 million in 2013).